Tag Archives: FIT Events

Hue thinks the one thing missing from Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is outfits for dogs. Fortunately, FIT filled the gap on April 18 with its Fourth Annual Pet Fashion Show, when dogs took the runway in outfits so fashionable they need a warning label. The designs came out of FIT’s Pet Product Design and Marketing certificate program.

Vivi the Pomeranian in a blue feather harness by Coty Farkas

Form and function don’t exactly intersect with these stunners–but form and cuteness make a sturdy bond.

Lily the Papillon in a pink taffeta dress by Cheryl Jackson

Hue is quite taken with dog fashions but wants to know where the cat and hamster fashions are.

Hue likes books, and, sometimes, the people who write them. In November, Jennifer Egan, author of the fabulous story collection or novel (we’re still not sure which) A Visit from the Goon Squad, came to FIT to give a reading, an event sponsored by the School of Liberal Arts. Afterwards, she sat down with Hue for a brief chat about fashion, fiction, and the future of literature.

Egan won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, so we were nearly quaking in our boots in awe, but she put us at ease. Since her book is partly about the music industry, we asked her to name some songs on her playlist.

The Sleepers, “Sister Little.” One of the stories in Goon Squad is about a fledgling punk rock band, so Hue asked Egan, a former habitué of the punk scene, to name the best live act she’d seen. Egan mentioned the San Francisco band The Sleepers, saying, “Their shows were so powerful partly because [lead singer] Ricky Williams was so precarious. He was so out of control and kind of fragile that you always thought you wouldn’t see them again.” Check out footage of a live performance here:

FIT stakeholders packed into FIT’s new broadcast studio on November 18, the official opening of the labs and studios in the David Dubinsky Student Center, for speeches by politicians, FIT VIPs, and others involved in the project. Guests toured the dozen new, light-filled spaces, for Toy Design, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing, Jewelry Design, and others.

The real scene-stealer that morning, however, was the gigantic pair of scissors that President Joyce F. Brown used to snip the ceremonial ribbon.

President Brown with FIT's Super-Size Scissors. Also in the picture: Edwin A. Goodman, chair of FIT's board of trustees, Giacomo Oliva, vice president of academic affairs, and assembly member Dick Gottfried.

These 34-inch shears, purchased from Golden Openings Inc., have handles in FIT’s blue and our logo on one side. This was their debut performance; expect to see them at future openings—or whenever anything important needs to be cut.

Hue thinks it might get a pair to complement its collection of keys to the city and giant sweepstakes checks.

At the 2011 commencement, Arianna Santoriello, Fine Arts, ’11, graduated a few hours before her mother, Melanie Santoriello, Textile Technology, ’80, Textile Development and Marketing, ’11. Melanie, who worked in the textile industry for 23 years, has taught at FIT since 2000 but hadn’t gotten her bachelor’s degree. “It was really humbling being a student,” Melanie says. “It gave me insight into what it feels like—for instance, getting nervous when a test comes.”

All’s well that ends well: Arianna and Melanie Santoriello.

The two ran into each other for the first time on campus in a bathroom. “I remember looking at her and thinking, ‘What are you doing here?’” Melanie says.

They also occasionally commuted from Riverdale together. “Arianna doesn’t like to talk in the mornings,” Melanie notes.

For her part, Arianna kept some distance but was glad to be on campus with Mom. “It was nice, going to find my mom and have lunch with her,” Arianna says, “and being able to go to her office and relax if I needed to.”

On the other hand, sometimes Melanie got on her nerves. “All my friends knew her,” Arianna says. “That was nice at times, but other times, she would hang around my class, and I’d say, ‘You can leave now.’”

Degree in hand, Arianna plans to take even more classes at FIT, this time to study textiles—though she’s not planning on signing up for another degree. Hue wonders if she’ll take a class that her mother is teaching. Teacher’s pet, anyone?

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